Italy is a European country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe including two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sardinia and Sicily. Italy is surrounded by four seas. Tuscany is washed by the Tyrrhenian sea from the north-west to the south, Sicily by the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas, and further to the north by the Adriatic. Due to the long coastline and pleasant Mediterranean climate, there is a large number of resorts in Italy for the lovers of beach holidays. Such places as San Remo, Portofino and Cinque Terre in Liguria, quite close to the border with France. Near Naples, on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea are Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri and Ischia. On the shore of the Adriatic Sea should be mentioned Rimini and Pesaro.

The coastal line of Italy is almost 7.5 thousand kilometers with over 5000 well-equipped beaches, a myriad of hotels from one to five stars, campgrounds and over 40 000 places for the reception of yachts and ships. The beaches and tourist sites in Italy meet environmental standards and deservedly have a high worldwide reputation. The beaches in Italy are famous for the beautiful landscapes around them, clean sand, abundant vegetation, the smell of pine trees, dizzying cliffs, cozy coves and underwater caves.

The Isle of Capri is a true treasure of Italy. It is famous not only for its extraordinary beauty and a heavenly climate, its a miracle located only 36 kilometers from Naples and is about 5 kilometers from the Cape of Sorrento Peninsula. Capri's beauty of its rocky landscape, the mild climate, rich vegetation and crystal-clear sea water with blue bottom inspired Roman emperors, Arab sheiks, Hollywood beauties, industrial tycoons and famous stylists.

Sardinia island is the second largest in Italy with unspoiled beaches, majestic cliffs with a magnificent scenery, absence of large industrial plants. The sea water is always clean and transparent. Its shades of blue, turquoise and emerald green colors vary depending on the color of the sand, rocks and the surrounding flora.

The coast of Sardinia has a total length of 1850 km of small bays, quiet coves, lagoons and more than 360 wonderful beaches.

The island of Sicily with its hospitality and generosity, beautiful nature and unusual original culture and unique history offers clean and quiet number of sandy beaches. The beach season here lasts until mid-November. Sicily offers a full choice of vacation places for anyone, even the most demanding guest find their comfort here. The sea around the island has its own characteristics where its transparent, somewhere, emerald-blue, inhabited by many colored fish right by the beach.

There are alot of differences on the Sicilian coastline, sometimes its enough to to move a mile and the beach of pebbles would turn into a sandy one, the next mile stones again and so on which would soon give way to the finest white sand. The most famous beach resort of Sicily is Taormina.

Liguria. The Ligurian coast is famous for its emerald-clear sea and picturesque views of the Ligurian and Maritime Alps, through which the coast is closed from the northern winds. The Riviera di Levante is the east coast of Liguria with small beaches and coves, hiding among the rocks. The most elite resorts of Liguria are Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino.

Calabria is a huge peninsula with a unique natural and ecological balance between the mountains and the sea. The length of the coast, washed by The Ionian and The Tyrrhenian Seas is 800 kilometers. Thus most of the territory of Calabria is occupied by mountainous and hilly terrain. There are plenty of sandy beaches, broad and flat, calm with shallow water close to many hotels and apartments that suit all tastes from affordable family hotels to luxury modern establishments.

Traditionally on the eve of the summer season, the Italian environmental organization Legambiente publishes its rating of the Italian beaches and sea resorts. The experts examine some 483 places each year, taking 128 different parameters into account from the color of sea water to the state of the infrastructure. The beaches are awarded with 1 to 5 "blue sails". According to the last year's statistics the best beach areas in Italy are Vernazza, Riomaggiore, Monterosso al Mare (Liguria), Otranto, Tremiti (Puglia), Pollica, Camerota (Campania), Ustica (Sicily), Sirolo (Marche), Villasimus, Orosei (Sardinia) and Castiglion della Pescaia (Tuscany).